120 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
pages of the ‘ Zoologist,’ namely, the claws of an 
Owl which had been hung up in a gamekeeper's 
“larder,” and in the body of a scare-crow Rook 
hung up in a field. The nest is also occasionally 
placed on the ground: inside the roof of a summer- 
house is also a favourite place: one I found in my 
summer-house a few years ago was very curious, the 
outside of the nest being formed entirely of the 
catkins of the Turkey oak, which were left partially 
hanging down. The materials generally used are 
moss, grass, hay and straw,—in fact, almost any- 
thing that comes handy,— and feathers for the 
lining. 
The food of the Wren consists of insects, of 
which, says Montagu, it finds a sufficient quantity to 
support life even in the severest winter. 
The general colour of the Wren is brown; the 
upper mandible is dark brown, and the under 
pale wood-brown; irides hazel; head, neck, back, 
scapulars and tail-coverts burnt-umber-brown; there 
is a streak of pale brown (almost dirty white) over 
the eye; the wing-coverts and tertials are burnt- 
umber-brown, with darker streaks on the feathers ; 
the primary quills dark brown, regularly spotted 
with very light brown; tail burnt-umber-brown, 
narrowly streaked with dark brown; throat, breast 
and belly pale wood-brown; flanks and thighs 
brown, streaked with darker; under tail-coverts the 
same, each feather slightly tipped with white. 
